Highlights

The Philippines is located in a region where important atmospheric and carbon cycle processes, that are not well understood, take place.

Many countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

This collaboration between Energy Development Corporation (EDC, Philippines), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES, Japan), and University of Wollongong (UOW, Australia) aims to establish the first TCCON station in Southeast Asia in order to help in satellite validation and atmospheric and carbon cycle studies.

Abstract

TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) is dedicated to the precise measurements of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4. TCCON measurements are used extensively for satellite validation, for atmospheric chemistry modeling, and for carbon cycle studies. With the global effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions, TCCON has taken on a vital role in validating past, current, and future satellite missions such as Japan’s Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT & GOSAT-2), National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2 & future OCO-3), and others. However, the lack of reliable validation data for satellite-based greenhouse gas observations in the tropics is a common limitation in global carbon-cycle studies that have a tropical component. The international CO2 modeling community has specified a requirement for expansion of the CO2 observation network within the tropics in order to reduce uncertainties in regional estimates of CO2 sources and sinks. A TCCON site in the tropical western Pacific is a logical next step in obtaining additional knowledge that would greatly contribute to the understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere and the carbon cycle. In this study, we present an assessment of a planned site in the Philippines where a new TCCON station, the first in Southeast Asia, will be installed.